Jakely, hmm. I know of a teenage girl named Blakely. And there's Blake Lively, the actress. It's all kind of in the same sound family. I really thought you were going to say it was a boy, though!

Today I heard of a little girl (5 yrs or less) named Kinadi. I assume it's a creative spelling of Kennedy? See, I'm one of those people who pronounces short-i (pin) and short-e (pen) differently, so this would really bug me if they were trying to do "Kennedy." My mom, on the other hand, can't hear the difference between the two vowels, so the pronunciation would make perfect sense to her.

It may be made up but the spelling is straight forward and the pronunciation is consistent. I do think it sounds more masculine but, since so many masculine names are being pinched for female use, that argument isn't very valid.

Jakely, hmm. I know of a teenage girl named Blakely. And there's Blake Lively, the actress. It's all kind of in the same sound family. I really thought you were going to say it was a boy, though!

Today I heard of a little girl (5 yrs or less) named Kinadi. I assume it's a creative spelling of Kennedy? See, I'm one of those people who pronounces short-i (pin) and short-e (pen) differently, so this would really bug me if they were trying to do "Kennedy." My mom, on the other hand, can't hear the difference between the two vowels, so the pronunciation would make perfect sense to her.

I've seen that (and yes, it is supposed to be like Kennedy), and I've also seen Kynadi in passing. It wasn't until just now that it clicked for me.

Had to share this one. Tonight I ran across a young woman (maybe 20) whose name was Azmoriah. She pronounced it azz-mor-EYE-uh. Like, "They Call the Wind Moriah" plus "azz" on the front.

I don't know if it's an "established" name or not, but I think it's very pretty. It feels Biblical and epic to me. Kind of magical. I think it might be a hard name to have, though, because it feels like a lot to live up to, like you have to become an Olympic figure skater or a rock superstar.

I also met a woman about 30 whose name was Patrica. Not Patricia, Patrica. It was pronounced puh-TREE-kuh. I imagine she says, "Not Patricia, Patrica" a lot.

Now I have to tell on a friend. She is expecting her second child, a boy, and has decided to name him in honour of her husband. You see, as a toddler, he couldn't quite pronounce his name, Alex, and would lisp out "Lis". So the baby will be named Lis.

I can just see his future: correcting the spelling (with an S, not a Z), correcting his gender (yes, I am a boy) and having people asking him about his name.

Now I have to tell on a friend. She is expecting her second child, a boy, and has decided to name him in honour of her husband. You see, as a toddler, he couldn't quite pronounce his name, Alex, and would lisp out "Lis". So the baby will be named Lis.

I can just see his future: correcting the spelling (with an S, not a Z), correcting his gender (yes, I am a boy) and having people asking him about his name.

Yes, names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Somebody needs to talk her out of that. Or at least, talk her into legally naming him Alexander, so that he still has options!

A good friend of mine had a baby, and wanted to call her Bessie. Luckily, she gave her the legal name Elizabeth, and simply told everybody that the baby was to be known as Bessie. I say 'luckily', because about 3 weeks after the birth she realised that she hated the name Bessie! So now the little girl is known by her legal name, and also by a completely different diminutive.

I have a part-time seasonal job wrapping gifts in a department store and I sometimes look at the name tags before putting them on, nothing that out there for now, I'd say our country is more traditionalist and since it's upscale and all there will be more Anne-Catherine and Pierre-Louis than made up names or unik spelling.

But I did see a Corto and an Ulysse, original but cute.

And someone asked me how to spell Matis, told her it was either an I or Y, one or two T, and sometimes an H so to pick one of the 8 possibilities .

It drives me nuts when people replace vowels with y. I had to control my facial expression the other day when I heard a girl say that she wanted to name her baby girl "Kyndyll" instead of "Kendall" because "with the y's, they'll know it's a girl". Um. What?

It drives me nuts when people replace vowels with y. I had to control my facial expression the other day when I heard a girl say that she wanted to name her baby girl "Kyndyll" instead of "Kendall" because "with the y's, they'll know it's a girl". Um. What?

The name "Mary" would also tell them she was a girl.

I have nothing against unisex names, but I thought the entire point was their... unisex nature? If you want to clearly delineate your child's gender (on paper anyway, I assume she wouldn't change the pronunciation), you're looking in the wrong style category.

It drives me nuts when people replace vowels with y. I had to control my facial expression the other day when I heard a girl say that she wanted to name her baby girl "Kyndyll" instead of "Kendall" because "with the y's, they'll know it's a girl". Um. What?